Why BJP and Congress drama can help India

It is predictable that there should be a political controversy over rescuing Uttarakhand flood victims. The election season has pretty much begun, and in this volatile, voluble democracy, there will be political-electoral storms, whether the tea cup variety or otherwise.

Is the so-called Rambo Modi controversy a substantive one? No and yes. No, because even if, as is being alleged by some, the number of those rescued is fewer than claims that seem to have been made on Modi's behalf, such inflation is within standard political behaviour. We don't have to condone it, but it's a little silly to get really upset about it.

The same holds for any exaggeration the Congress may be accused of, either in countering Modi or in its own claims.

But the controversy is more substantive if one looks at it through the prism of political evolution. This politics of rescue is part of an evolutionary process that emphasises reasonably well-crafted political theatre.

Rahul Gandhi and Narendra Modi have both acted and have had some successes and duds. And both need to relearn a basic rule: drama at the cost of appearing divisive, especially in times of tragedy or in the context of deprivation or other misfortunes , is risky. Some of Rahul Gandhi's speeches during his UP election campaign last year fell in this category, for example, when he seemingly subsumed the state's youth under the category of desperate internal migrants.

Modi, all evidence shows, is even more at home with grand gestures that don't meet the criterion of non-divisiveness . Neither aggressive Gujarati sub-nationalism nor his evident discomfiture in dealing with any minorityrelated issues will help him in 2014.

But it is certain that this kind of political theatre will be increasingly on display as Election 2014 comes near and, assuming the main actors stay away from dangerous scripts, this is good for national politics. It sharpens competition between the two main parties and if that heightened competition gets BJP and Congress more votes and seats, it is welcome for India's politics and economy.